Reference
OFAC sanctioned countries: the full list, explained
The accurate short answer first: OFAC does not publish a single official list of sanctioned countries. It administers sanctions programs — a handful of comprehensive embargoes (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine) plus dozens of selective programs that target specific sectors, officials or activities in a country without embargoing it. Any "OFAC country list" you find is someone's interpretation of that program set. The tables below are the interpretation CompliAPI's own country-screening endpoint serves, with every row linked to the OFAC program behind it — last verified against ofac.treasury.gov on August 22, 2026.
Comprehensively sanctioned countries
Comprehensive programs prohibit nearly all trade and transactions between US persons and the target — the closest thing to a true embargo. This set is small and changes rarely:
| Country / region | OFAC program |
|---|---|
| Cuba | Cuba Sanctions |
| Iran | Iran Sanctions |
| North Korea | North Korea Sanctions |
| Russia | Russian Harmful Foreign Activities SanctionsFormally a selective program, not a classic embargo — see the note below the table. |
| Crimea, Donetsk & Luhansk regions of Ukraine | Ukraine-/Russia-related SanctionsRegion-level embargoes: the rest of Ukraine is not sanctioned. |
A note on Russia: OFAC's Russian Harmful Foreign Activities program is formally a selective program — sweeping sectoral prohibitions and thousands of designations rather than a country-wide embargo. CompliAPI returns Russia in the comprehensive category because regulated businesses overwhelmingly treat it as blocked in practice; the match links the program page so you can apply your own counsel's reading.
Selective OFAC country sanctions programs
Selective (list-based) country programs sanction named officials, entities, sectors or activities connected to a country — the country itself is not embargoed, and most trade with it remains lawful. This is where naive "sanctioned countries" tables go wrong in both directions: treating these countries as blocked overblocks; ignoring the programs underblocks. The OFAC sanctioned countries list, as CompliAPI curates it from the active program set:
| Country | OFAC program |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Afghanistan-Related Sanctions |
| Belarus | Belarus Sanctions |
| Burma (Myanmar) | Burma-Related Sanctions |
| Central African Republic | Central African Republic Sanctions |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | DRC-Related Sanctions |
| Ethiopia | Ethiopia-Related Sanctions |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong-Related Sanctions |
| Iraq | Iraq-Related Sanctions |
| Lebanon | Lebanon-Related Sanctions |
| Libya | Libya Sanctions |
| Mali | Mali-Related Sanctions |
| Nicaragua | Nicaragua-related Sanctions |
| Somalia | Somalia Sanctions |
| South Sudan | South Sudan-Related Sanctions |
| Sudan | Sudan and Darfur Sanctions |
| Syria | Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions (PAARSS) |
| Venezuela | Venezuela-Related Sanctions |
| Yemen | Yemen-related Sanctions |
| Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia | Balkans-Related Sanctions (Western Balkans) |
Syria moved from this page's former comprehensive tier in 2025: OFAC's old Syria program pages now redirect to the PAARSS program, which targets Assad-era accountability rather than embargoing the country — a live example of why a dated, program-linked table beats a static one.
Beyond the country programs, OFAC also runs thematic, list-based programs — counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, cyber, Global Magnitsky, non-proliferation, transnational criminal organizations — that designate people and entities in any country. A jurisdiction absent from the tables above can still produce sanctioned counterparties.
CompliAPI's curated set additionally flags the ITAR §126.1 arms-embargo jurisdictions (a US State Department list, not OFAC) as a third military category, with each match linking the eCFR section — relevant if you ship anything export-controlled.
OFAC sanctions lists: what OFAC actually publishes
If not a country list, what does OFAC publish? Three things, and knowing which is which resolves most confusion about "the OFAC list":
- The SDN list — Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons: the named individuals, entities, vessels, aircraft and crypto addresses whose assets US persons must block. This is the list most people mean.
- The Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List — parties under narrower restrictions (SSI, CMIC, CAPTA and similar) that limit specific dealings without blocking assets.
- The sanctions program pages — one per program, the closest OFAC comes to country-level guidance. The tables above are built from them. (Both lists ship as data files; our export-files guide covers every download and schema.)
Country sanctions vs list sanctions
For onboarding and payments decisions, "is country X sanctioned?" is usually the wrong question. Outside the comprehensive embargoes, exposure comes from who you are dealing with, not where: a counterparty in an unsanctioned country can be an SDN, and most people in selectively-sanctioned countries are not sanctioned at all. The operational pattern that follows is two checks, not one — geofence the comprehensive embargoes and your own risk-based country rules, then screen every counterparty identifier (name, wallet address, email, government ID) against the designation lists themselves.
OFAC sanctioned countries: FAQ
Is Russia a sanctioned country under OFAC?
Yes, extensively — but not under a classic comprehensive embargo. The Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions program blocks major banks, industries and thousands of listed parties, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine are under full region-level embargoes. Because most regulated businesses treat Russia as blocked in practice, CompliAPI's country screening returns Russia in the comprehensive category.
Is Syria still comprehensively sanctioned by OFAC?
No. OFAC's long-standing comprehensive Syria program was wound down in 2025, and the former Syria program pages now redirect to its successor: the Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions (PAARSS) program, which targets Assad-era figures and destabilizing actors rather than embargoing the country. CompliAPI categorizes Syria as a selective program and links the PAARSS page on every match.
How many countries are on the OFAC sanctioned countries list?
There is no official count because there is no official list — OFAC runs programs, not a country roster. CompliAPI's curated designations currently cover 40 countries and territories: a handful under comprehensive embargoes, 26 selective country-program entries, and the ITAR §126.1 arms-embargo jurisdictions, each match linking the program that produced it.
Does OFAC publish an official list of sanctioned countries?
No. OFAC itself answers this in its FAQ 'Where is OFAC's country list?': it publishes sanctions programs and the SDN and Non-SDN lists of designated parties, but no single countries file. Any country table — including this one — is an interpretation of the active program set, which is why this page names and links the program behind every row and carries a verification date.
What are the three types of OFAC sanctions?
OFAC does not define an official three-part taxonomy, but its programs are commonly grouped as: comprehensive embargoes that block nearly all dealings with a country; selective country programs that target named sectors, officials or activities within a country; and list-based programs (counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, cyber, Global Magnitsky and others) that designate specific people and entities anywhere in the world.
Screening against sanctioned countries automatically
The tables on this page are the same OFAC-curated designations CompliAPI serves: one authenticated GET returns a country's designations with category and the official program URL on every match, ready to drive geofencing rules in your product. Syria, screened live:
GET /api/v1/screen/country/{country}
curl "https://api.compliapi.com/api/v1/screen/country/SY?lists=ofac" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $COMPLIAPI_TOKEN"Response
{
"value": "SY",
"flagged": true,
"sanctioned": true,
"lists_checked": ["ofac"],
"matches": [
{
"list": "ofac",
"list_name": "US OFAC SDN",
"list_type": "sanctions",
"match": "exact",
"value": "Syria",
"source_url": "https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/paarss",
"metadata": { "country": "SY", "category": "targetted" }
},
{
"list": "ofac",
"list_name": "US OFAC SDN",
"list_type": "sanctions",
"match": "exact",
"value": "Syria",
"source_url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-M/part-126/section-126.1",
"metadata": { "country": "SY", "category": "military" }
}
]
}Pair it with the OFAC API to screen the counterparty identifiers the list-based programs actually designate.
Geofence embargoed countries, screen everything else
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